There’s something appealing about removing complexity – and the costs to maintain that complexity – to more effectively improve the behavior of a complex system.
“‘Generally speaking, what we want is for people to be confused,’ said Willi Ladner, a deputy mayor in Bohmte. ‘When they’re confused, they’ll be more alert and drive more carefully.'” – Craig Whitlock, WashingtonPost.com
Not sure that less is more in this context… Does anyone have stats on the incidence of road trauma in less-regulated place like (say) India?
I usually argue the opposite – the reason why people disobey traffic controls is that there’s no real penalty in most instances if you “push the envelope” a little (running a just-red light, for instance). If we installed tyre spikes at every intersection that activated .25 seconds after the light turns red, you better believe that rapidly NO-ONE will be running red lights any more… 🙂
Jessica